A suggestion for the "All lessons" page

[michelew]

I do think that the recent change was an improvement. It was taking ages to scroll to where you want to be sometimes. Yes I use the search function too.

But I absolutely agree with Suzi, Dean and anyone else that's said it that the whole thing does would benefit from an overhaul. The ideas they've suggested sound good.

[tovo]

michelew wrote:

I do think that the recent change was an improvement. It was taking ages to scroll to where you want to be sometimes. Yes I use the search function too.

But I absolutely agree with Suzi, Dean and anyone else that's said it that the whole thing does would benefit from an overhaul. The ideas they've suggested sound good.

Well I absolutely agree with you Shel! What Suzi says makes good sense. I still think it's a huge improvement as is, but taking up these suggestions would be the bomb. I don't think anyone should ever feel like a 'naysayer' for giving their constructive opinion. On the contrary, good on you for having a voice!

[suziko]

Well..............yeah, I have to agree as well.....it lóóks tidier, but that's about it. Finding something is still hard and I hate scrolling like that....personally I don't like the search-function. Either it doesn't come up with what I'm looking for or when I click on what comes up I get an advertisement and I need to pay first (I'm obviously already logged in).....besides, often I'm in front of my desk, guitar in hand, sheets in front of me, reaching for my keyboard to type is a pain, I just want to click this, click that and get what I'm looking for.

.....................................

Maybe I'm just an impatient person...... :S :dry:

[suziko]

Like I said in my first post, I do think the new look is "tidier" but that doesn't necessarily mean it's better. You still have an extremely long list of names to scroll down through just as before. Granted, it's not as long, but it's still long. But now all the lessons are hidden, so if you just want to browse through the lessons to see what's available, you'd have to physically click on every one of those categories. As much as I didn't love scrolling through all the lessons before, I did like that there was an easy way to see what songs were available through the Target program. It was actually something I'd do on a semi-regular basis: scroll down and make a list of the songs that I haven't yet tackled but want to.

Again, my nature is to want to be enthusiastic and supportive and I feel uncomfortable being the "griper" in this thread. But we all know that the search functionality and the layout of the All Lessons page has been an issue that needs dealing with for a long time. A lot of feedback has been given to The Powers That Be, asking them to make this aspect more user-friendly. My concern is that instead of the issue being addressed holistically, all we're going to get is a superficial "improvement."

And I have to agree with Ness that the search functionality rarely works well for me. Let me give you another example. Recently I wanted to refresh my memory on how to play "Feelin' Groovy." I remembered that Al had posted a video of himself playing it, and wanted to check out what he did. So first I went to the "Target Student Reviews" page and sorted by both "Al" and "Acoustical" (two choices for him). Nope, not there. So I try searching for "Feelin' Groovy Acoustical" in the Forum. No. Maybe if I type the same thing into the search box above "Master Menu?" No. At this point I get fed up and go to YouTube and search for the same thing and it comes up as the 2nd choice. I have no idea why I can't find it here. Maybe it was posted to the forum and no longer exists in the forum. But it happens time and again that I just can't find things on the site that I know exist- or existed at one point. And, again, I've been here for 3 years! How do newbies feel?

I love TG and I've learned so much during the time I've been here. Neil is a top-notch instructor, and whenever I look around at other instructors online, I'm always reminded of how excellent he is. Also, the quality of the materials we get with our lessons is great. But this aspect of the site- the search functionality and the layout- is embarrassingly bad. If TG were a new site, it would be forgivable. But at this point?

[thereshopeyet]

Vanessa Wrote:

Maybe I'm just an impatient person.

I don't think your impatient Vanessa, it does need streamlined.

What that involves who knows!
Totally Guitars is a big database of music goodies.

I think thoughtful database design and useful data retrieval considerations would be amazing.
Reliable Data retrieval is determined by early database design considerations.
In this situation the database designer needs to work closely with the instructors, and users to create
the ultimate database.

Wouldn't it be great if you could not only catalogue the songs, artists, etc.
You could catalogue video content lesson, Acoustic Genius lessons by title or even timestamp pin pointing
anything one might seek.

The downside is that a poorly designed database from the ground up will never work correctly or be adaptable.
Cost to correct is like reinventing the wheel.

The TG Folk behind the scenes would need to collect useful information from the users and apply the information
then they may understand and be able to act on that understanding.
That in itself can be time consuming.

I can get by as it is and any improvements for me are a bonus.

I do believe the TG folk have our best interests at heart.

[tombo1230]

You're not the only one Sue, really, I unfortunately agree with éverything you're saying in here.....

suziko wrote:

Like I said in my first post, I do think the new look is "tidier" but that doesn't necessarily mean it's better. You still have an extremely long list of names to scroll down through just as before. Granted, it's not as long, but it's still long. But now all the lessons are hidden, so if you just want to browse through the lessons to see what's available, you'd have to physically click on every one of those categories. As much as I didn't love scrolling through all the lessons before, I did like that there was an easy way to see what songs were available through the Target program. It was actually something I'd do on a semi-regular basis: scroll down and make a list of the songs that I haven't yet tackled but want to.

Again, my nature is to want to be enthusiastic and supportive and I feel uncomfortable being the "griper" in this thread. But we all know that the search functionality and the layout of the All Lessons page has been an issue that needs dealing with for a long time. A lot of feedback has been given to The Powers That Be, asking them to make this aspect more user-friendly. My concern is that instead of the issue being addressed holistically, all we're going to get is a superficial "improvement."

And I have to agree with Ness that the search functionality rarely works well for me. Let me give you another example. Recently I wanted to refresh my memory on how to play "Feelin' Groovy." I remembered that Al had posted a video of himself playing it, and wanted to check out what he did. So first I went to the "Target Student Reviews" page and sorted by both "Al" and "Acoustical" (two choices for him). Nope, not there. So I try searching for "Feelin' Groovy Acoustical" in the Forum. No. Maybe if I type the same thing into the search box above "Master Menu?" No. At this point I get fed up and go to YouTube and search for the same thing and it comes up as the 2nd choice. I have no idea why I can't find it here. Maybe it was posted to the forum and no longer exists in the forum. But it happens time and again that I just can't find things on the site that I know exist- or existed at one point. And, again, I've been here for 3 years! How do newbies feel?

I love TG and I've learned so much during the time I've been here. Neil is a top-notch instructor, and whenever I look around at other instructors online, I'm always reminded of how excellent he is. Also, the quality of the materials we get with our lessons is great. But this aspect of the site- the search functionality and the layout- is embarrassingly bad. If TG were a new site, it would be forgivable. But at this point?

[rapsidy]

Haha! :laugh: Phew! Thanks Dermot!

thereshopeyet wrote:

Vanessa Wrote:

Maybe I'm just an impatient person.

I don't think your impatient Vanessa, it does need streamlined.

[neverfoundthetime]

Sue, if you are searching for Feeling Groovy you need to know that it called 59th Street Bridge Song
which you can find with one click on Simon and Garfunkel (in the listing, Lessons by Artist) and its the first song....

took me 5 seconds.....

[suziko]

Thanks, Chris. I'm well aware of the other title to the song. I wasn't looking for the lesson, I was looking specifically for Al's video.

[neverfoundthetime]

Ah, that's more mysterious.... B)